A Hand To Hold
by Orries A Writer
Summary: [COMPLETED] A continuing alert from J.A.R.V.I.S starts to pester Tony until he can't ignore it any longer. Steve/Tony.
1. The Distress Call

A fully restored Avengers mansion meant that now instead of only seeing his team when there was danger, Tony Stark could now mingle and flit like his social butterfly self in the comfort of his own home. J.A.R.V.I.S was fit into every place Tony ever needed and the mansion was no different. Every night for two months now the artificial butler had been sending Tony a distress warning, but thinking it was a bug, Tony had ignored it.

However two months was a long time for a genius who had fixed every other bug in the system, and was now absolutely baffled by the distress call. He'd run and re-run the coding every way he could, and even simulated a few emergencies to try and figure it out. But there was nothing wrong with J.A.R.V.I.S, he was following his 'make sure everyone is safe' orders as it had been written. So Tony sat watching the screens late one night, a full mug of coffee in one hand and a generously buttered slice of toast in the other. If he needed to stay awake all night to find this fucking glitch then so be it.

By 2am it started. J.A.R.V.I.S flashed a red warning light, and Tony was on it with a mere point of his tablet pen. He began to search for where the signal came from, whilst several other holographic windows at eye level ran the continuous string of coded list commands that J.A.R.V.I.S was running off of. Of course Tony couldn't keep his eyes on everything, but he was pretty sure he knew where the code might be going wrong. He was pretty much 99.84% sure that it was a loose wire somewhere in the building.

His ideas however changed in a breath. The signal was coming from Steve's room. Instantly Tony assumed Steve was just taking advantage of the sound proofing to knock one very loud one out. A little disappointingly Tony found he was wrong twice in a row as he brought up the visual, to see the super-soldier trying to sleep. The covers of his bed were kicked off around his middle, and he slept curled on one side of the double bed, as though still used to the army bunks he'd slept in for years before getting here.

Tony brought up the audio as he watched the poor blonde roll out of this foetal position, and the distress signal peaked just as Tony tuned in to hear Steve screaming. It was heart breaking, really. The soldier's arm was out across the double, hand clutching for something in his dreams that wasn't there in the bed. Blue eyes snapped open, reflecting green in the video night vision.

One arm gropes to the covers to bring them up to his chest, and his body stays stiff for a moment as his fingers curl into his palm. Then his arm draws back in, and he drifts back off to sleep. It only takes an hour for the process to repeat, and Tony realised that it wasn't a bug, but a terrifying nightmare routine that alerted J.A.R.V.I.S.

Tony brings up his special loophole coding that he used after his time in captivity, and it allowed for J.A.R.V.I.S to ignore any yells or screams from a particular room between certain hours providing there was no use of phrases such as "help" "attack" or "dear god not my beautiful face".

That morning Tony laid off being sarcastic towards Steve, and instead just leaves him a coffee as an extension of the olive branch. He doesn't say a word, but he's acting hyper aware of his own actions around the blonde. His mind was working on an idea, but he didn't want Steve to catch wind of it. He knew trying to talk about last night wasn't going to help the star spangled man.

Tony observes, and recognises the tell tale signs of a bad nights sleep. Steve was yawning more, his eyes looked heavy although he'd definitely had time to wake up and shower, and he wasn't quite as responsive as normal. Given more time Steve might actually get his concentration wrecked and that was no good for the point second decisions required in their line of work.

Steve had wondered about the coffee, and decided that with no snide good morning joke, Tony was up to his experiments. "If you've poisoned that mug I'll only throw it up. Do you really want me to ruin another expensive carpet?" The blonde tries a small joke, but Tony blanked him. Steve thinks back to information stored in his mind, wondering if today's date matched to any of Tony's file dates about injuries or deaths. It didn't. Steve quirks an eyebrow and takes the coffee in silence, settling in to his seat to read the newspaper.

Tony liked that about Steve, the use of paper, the morning coffee and very grandfather way of scolding people when he wasn't sure about what was going on. 'Endearing' was the term Pepper had used once, and Tony had scoffed at it, as he didn't think there was anything endearing about a man who could kill someone with a custom Frisbee. But Steve was. The soldier was every inch an average guy out of uniform, and it _was_ endearing to see him in a state of peace.

That thought stayed with Tony all day, and when it came to midnight he got ready to make his move. Steve had gone to bed long before then, and Tony had automatically registered J.A.R.V.I.S to keep the cameras trained on the blonde. Tony had noted it took forever for Steve to drop off, the tossing and turning, and occasional sighs of discontent from Steve made it hard for Tony not to go in there and inject him with an almost lethal dose of tranquillizer.

But eventually sleep claimed Steve, and Tony padded down with his shoes off to Steve's room, keeping as quiet as he could when he unlocked the door by system command. The billionaire slipped through into the still of the sleeping man's room, and waited near the door with pricked ears. Steve hadn't woken, and Tony was thankful he wasn't about to get a punch to the face for disturbing the man's much needed R&R.

He crept closer, and checked the time on his phone, it was almost 2am. He knew it wouldn't be much longer as he slid into the bed. He was a master of stealthy bed manners from his many nights slinking around the wild girls who dozed as he pretended to need the bathroom. Tony kept his eyes on Steve's face, and could almost see the dream happening in the same strict routine as last night. Steve turned, then back to the middle, his brow creased in a deep expression of concentration. Then the fear came, and his almost white lips opened as he moaned a low protest, which grew steadily louder as he began to scream.

In the room the noise was ear shattering, the sound proofing so good it had dulled the noise to the cameras last night. Tony shook as he fought all his instincts to wake the blonde and save him from his own mind. But he wouldn't need to, as Steve's arm shot out and his bright blue eyes snapped open. The scream seemed to be a defensive measure for Steve, and the moment he was awake, the silence fell thick in the room again.

Tony had counted on this fact, and had a smile on his face as Steve started to put together the puzzle of why Tony was in his bed. But those big puppy eyes looked down, to where Tony was squeezing Steve's hand with his own fingers carded between them. There was a hitch of breath as Steve figured it out, and his own fingers pushed back against Tony's hard worked skin. The soldier closes his eyes, and his grip relaxes in Tony's palm as he finds the sleep catching him again.

Their hands stay where they are, and whether Steve was aware of it or not, his thumb was lazily pushing over the back of Tony's knuckle. The brunette props himself up for a while, unsure if he should leave once Steve had fallen asleep or stick it out and make some lurid comments in the morning. Perhaps the latter would be better given the circumstances of the Captain's nightmares.

"Thank-you." The only whisper that echoed into the room to break the blonde's sleepy silence. Tony looked over, and Steve was awake, but his eyes were transfixed on their hands. He had a look that told Tony that he was fighting an urge to ask a few questions. The silence blanketed around them again.

A long pause later and Tony figures out what Steve wanted to ask. "J.A.R.V.I.S doesn't like to see 'unhappy house-guests'." He imitates the AI voice, clearly fond of the dry spoken British butler. He gives Steve's hand a little pressure.

"I was... Making trouble?" Steve asks innocently. He didn't like to be a pest, and although it took some getting used to he'd finally resigned to the automated shower systems and coffee that J.A.R.V.I.S had set up. This of course was after it had collected personal habit data, as instructed by Tony when he first wrote the code. Really Tony could have just asked all the avengers for a personal routine or rough timetable to work from, but funnily enough J.A.R.V.I.S could predict each pattern better than Natasha and Clint, who knew their routines off by heart from shower to sleep. Tony always assumed it was because his own routine was fairly chaotic, and from that J.A.R.V.I.S had updated basic steps to incorporate his creators disorderly scheduling.

"No, no." Tony cuts in before Steve can start off on his whole 'I'll take up my old apartment, I'll pay my way' bullshit that he'd heard a hundred times before whenever Tony had come close to telling Steve off. Sometimes the blonde forgot to put his mug on a coaster. That had been a funny little yelling match. Something as simple as a coffee ring and about half an hour of full on screaming at each other about how much a table cost. "You yell in your sleep. It's pretty depressing." He taunts softly, but says nothing more than that. Tony finds his own fingers slipping along Steve's, marvelling that for a guy who wore leather, and carried a shield, and had a vigorous training exercise; his hands were as soft as any woman's.

The healing in Steve's blood was really something Tony should invest himself in. There were more and more people on the planet who could go straight back into battle a day after getting their spines reticulated, and Tony knew that even one dangerously false move without his suit and he'd throw his back out for a month. Not that he didn't love his Iron Man suit, but just how many more windows could a guy get thrown out of?

"Sor-" Steve's apology was cut off as Tony spoke over him.

"There's not a lot you can do about it Cap." He shrugs a little, his eyes flicking to the ceiling as he tries to do his best to let Steve know that for once Tony was being understanding. He didn't have to lie here and hold his hand like this.

"Maybe." He nods and turns in a little, hand still pushed against Tony's. "Fury said.." Steve looks down for a moment, unsure if telling Tony would result in ridicule. "He said I should go see a shrink." He says it with a bit of a scoff, eyes darkening for a second.

Tony does laugh too, but it's not a mean smirk on his face. "That man doesn't need to send you to a shrink to find out what's wrong with you. How long have you and Natasha been hanging out?" He asks, as fair enough, Tony didn't exactly see 'Miss. Rushmore' as anything else than a secretary when she first came to start evaluating him for the Avengers Initiative.

"Miss Romanoff?" Steve swallows as he thinks. "A lot actually, she's really great, and I like a woman who can focus on her career." He smiles back. The poor fool.

"Yeah, don't get too chummy with her. She's called Black Widow for a reason. She'll spit you out in a minute." It wasn't that Tony didn't like her, but he hadn't liked being told there was psychiatric evaluation going on whilst he was trying to figure out what to do about the whole 'dying for the nth time' problem.

"Oh." Steve shifts, his body turning in a little. "So... You think I should give this whole, head doctor business a go?" He looks very sceptical about the idea. Tony shifts back without moving away, to face his friend and co-worker.

"Sure, if you think getting ripped off to be given the answers you already know is worth your time." Tony scrunches his face up: He didn't like the idea either.

Steve moves again, face buried in his pillow as he sighs a long and heavy groan. "I'll think about it." He says quietly, and then with a yawn he closes his eyes.

It takes Tony a while to drop off after that but their hands, albeit a little strange to the genius, stay connected. Throughout the night he felt Steve slowly shifting and curling, until eventually the blonde was pressed close against Tony's side. The billionaire had to stifle a little chuckle, as it wasn't as though he was unused to having another body close to him, but it wasn't often they were flat chested, bearing stubble, and sculpted close to resembling Adonis. Pepper's words about endearing came back to him too, and sure enough seeing Steve's resting face with his lips only slightly parted as his chest rose and fell _was_ endearing.

Before he knows it, Tony's spare hand pushes into Steve's hair, feeling the way the long strands on top suddenly shorted out into the buzz cut of the back and sides. He repeats the motion a couple of times, finding that it was harder to keep his eyes open, and that he'd instinctively pushed into Steve's warm body as the soldier sighs in his sleep.

Tony shut his eyes for what feels like a minute, but when he opens them again the morning Sun was pushing through the blinds. Confusion was Tony's go to reaction. When had he last slept so peacefully without a dash of liquor to aide him? When had he last gotten up with the Sunrise? And when the hell did he ever get to wake up next to Steve mother fucking Rogers looking like an actual glowing angel?

Tony blinks a few times, then moves his hand to wipe the sleep from his lids. But there's a heavy feel and looking down he finds that their hands are still connected. Tony uses his other hand, and turns just a little to observe the man next to him. The blonde was pushed against him, the hand holding Tony's now draped over the brown haired genius' chest. Not only that but Steve's leg had hooked over Tony's hip too, which left the billionaire stuck. He might have been strong enough to wriggle free from under Steve, but it wouldn't be possible without waking the super-soldier. Besides, the blonde's head was tucked neatly into Tony's neck, and the warmth he provided was not unlike a wonderfully human sized hot water bottle.

Tony rolled his eyes. He should have never done this. Steve was going to freak out when he woke.

As soon as the thought had crossed his mind, Steve's alarm blared angrily from the bedside table.


	2. The Other Stark

Steve's large hand groped the air inches from Tony's head, and slammed down none too gently on the device on the bedside. Then something unexpected. Still half asleep Steve nuzzled into Tony's neck, sighing contented by the warmth that Tony was no doubt giving off. Then the pressure of soft skin, Steve's lips as he kissed the curve of Tony's neck. Tony's eyes went wide, and he swallows thickly, hesitant to interrupt whatever it was Steve thought he was doing.

But there was no way Steve knew it was another man he was kissing, right?

It seemed that Tony was right, because Steve jerked as if suddenly burned, and rolled away with eyes completely open with realised fear. "Shit." Steve says and moves quickly to lock himself in the bathroom.

It left Tony bemused. Apparently Steve found comfort in Tony's arms. Apparently the soldier swore when he was at a loss. Apparently Steve the big butch golden boy liked to cuddle. Tony finds himself smiling, then laughing. Then finally he lets his laughter take over, a hand to his forehead as he shuts his eyes and listens to the way his throat expels the sound of his chuckles.

Steve, a closeted homosexual? Oh God. It was too beautiful to even know where to begin with it. Should he ask who turned him? Should Tony try and seduce him? Another wave of loud laughter. He wanted to have so much fun with this. At Steve's expense, naturally. No wonder he never changed the tights for something less revealing.

Tony was willing to bet his company that Steve was unaware of how much of a fuck nobody gave about being gay nowadays. Sure there were still a few morons here and there that didn't understand sexuality, but nobody on the team would dare to call Steve a fruit. He was calculating that Steve was a wreck behind that bathroom door, trying to figure out how to stop Tony from pulling him out of the proverbial closet.

Tony rolls out of his side of the bed, his feet heavy on the floor as his body was still asleep. He stretches up as he calms down and lightly knocks on the door of the bathroom. Steve answers and Tony just gives him a devilish grin. "So..." He says before Steve shuts the door again, and he can hear the poor blonde moaning before he opens the door again.

"I thought you were a woman." He says quickly and Tony just bursts out laughing again.

"Please, I know I smell nice but I'm not wearing perfume, or a dress." He grins, and puts his hand in the door frame, knowing Steve wouldn't dare close up again for fear of harming the man. "You do realise I don't care. In fact, I'm kinda flattered." He tries to coax Steve out a little bit at a time. The soldier opens the door up fully but those eyes of his were practically begging.

"I think you need to catch up on a few social evolutions." Tony says simply, and to emphasize his point he pulls up on the balls of his feet and gives Steve a quick peck to his lips. "I'm completely comfortable in my sexuality to do more than just kiss you." He shrugs and backs off of the door, arms folding to protect his arc should Steve choose to shove him back. "Clearly you've never experimented in college."

Steve stays silent the entire time, and wipes his mouth after Tony's lips had been on his own. He knows that he must have that lost look on his face, the one a lot of people had interpreted as an invitation to start a conversation with him in a bid to make him feel more comfortable. "No really, I thought you were somebody else." Steve continues, and his eyes do seem to be looking at Tony, but seeing right past him.

Tony's eyes darken and he makes a little noise of frustration, having this horrible feeling he knew the name of the person Steve meant. He wasn't laughing now. "Who?" He asks, but he's also demanding. He draws himself up, fist already clenched to strike.

Steve looks sadly at the man, and sighs deeply. "You don't have to ask." He says, and this time his voice is far smaller.

"Say it." Tony demands, because a few stories his father told him about how great Captain America was did seem a little too rose tinted for Tony. He wasn't going to buy the pack of lies his father had said when he promised he hadn't loved Steve more than he'd loved Maria.

"... Please Tony, don't- "

"Fucking say it."

"I thought you were Howard." Steve admits with a miserable tone, breath baited as he waited for the lava bubbling under Tony's skin to erupt.

The genius did want to lash out, but Steve wasn't really awake when he cuddled up to Tony. Steve wasn't even trying to get Tony into his bed, nor did the blonde ask for Tony to join him last night. This was merely the effect of the cause.

Tony gives a reserved sigh. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." He steps back until he's in the space to flop back on Steve's bed, hands coming up as a pillow. "I don't think I'm ever going to get out of that guys shadow." He growls a low and long frustrated sound that started in his chest and came out in the exhale.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Steve says quietly still hiding near the safety of the bathroom door. "I wasn't," he sighs. "I wasn't thinking." He steps out from the tiled floor to the carpeted bedroom, feet padding softly as he takes a few tentative steps forward.

"No, I know." Tony shrugs, trying to act distant of the problem. "But you fucked my dad." He adds with a little venom.

Steve flinches. The very expression hurt the blonde's ears. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't?"

"Nope."

"Well I didn't."

Tony didn't want to acknowledge it, but Steve wasn't the type to lie. Tony thought Steve wasn't the type to go for men either, but hell, he'd been wrong about practically every single thing that made up Steven G. Rogers.

"Then explain that little number in the bed, Casanova. Actually don't. Let me wake up first." Tony pulls himself from the mattress and yawns, walking out of the room with Steve close behind.

Steve really didn't have to explain anything. Tony could take a guess that if they'd been that close, but hadn't in fact been sexual, that it might have been a cold night. They might have been close to the edge of something depressing. They might have needed to simply hold each other after the loss of a mutual friend. The possibilities were endless really. War made people desperate, and Tony would've been stripped of his genius title if he didn't acknowledge the fact that his father was just as much of a playboy in his youth as Tony was today. Still, nobody wanted to imagine their parents fucking their best friend.

After taking a long sip of some scalding coffee, Tony was ready to sit and listen. At first Steve sat there looking like an oversized awkward teenager caught out by his parents after a night of under-aged partying. But then he took a breath, the start of his story on the tip of his tongue.

"Just after I got this body, there was a chaotic chase. Everything was blurred and sudden, I had no idea that the procedure had even worked until I was standing over a dead HYDRA agent." His eyes cast back, as to him it was almost a different time-line in comparison to the adventures he was having now. "I got back, and Howard offered to help me figure out my side effects without detaining me in a lab."

Tony nodded, and brought up a file on Captain America. Steve took it after some practise with the holographic screens and pointed to a few of the things Howard had managed to help him find out. "He was close, I was a mess." Steve looks at the table rather than the screen, because he could see the perplexed and disgusted look on Tony's face through the transparent database. "I don't even remember who made the first move." He adds quietly. Tony understood the sensation of how his father used to be, the curiosity, and the excitement of a project. Because that's what Howard must've thought, that same psycho-sexual thrill of inventing. The ego stroking, the excitement waiting to see if what he'd made worked. Steve probably never realised Howard's mechanical-like mind from his naively human point-of-view.

"But we stopped mutually. I told him I didn't want to do what he was suggesting, but I was grateful that he was willing to-" Steve stops, his own words almost too horrific for him to say aloud.

"Lend a hand?" Tony smirks, he could practically see the glint of lust in his father's eyes, and in many ways, it wasn't unlike Tony to get that same expression whenever he caught sight of Steve working out. Steve didn't like how Tony had worded it, but he laughed anyway. He then nods, and swipes the file away.

"Point being, I didn't... Do what you think I did with him." Steve clamps up, because Bruce comes into the room, looking at the two men at the breakfast counter.

"Do what?" Bruce asks, hands reaching out to make a pot of coffee.

"I thought Steve killed a guy. One of his old movie reels said our golden boy broke a Nazi's neck because he was batting for Hitler when we were winning. Turns out it was less a documentary and more American propaganda." Tony lies expertly, and Steve shoots him a grateful look from behind the rim of his own mug.

"Well everyone wanted to believe that Cap could save us from the Nazi's back when it was all going on." Bruce agrees with his back turned, and Steve's chest puffed out with his swelling of pride.

"Just trying to do something for the country." He says humbly, and sips at his coffee with a dumb looking smile on his face.

Tony felt himself get another wave of endearment. Even though Steve had gotten close to his father. Even though he hated the fact that those two got on so well together. By all rights Tony didn't want to feel anything about Steve, but it kept coming. Then eventually he figures out how to ask his burning question.

"Well, so long as _that guy _wasn't a stunt double?" Tony keeps his eyes trained on Steve as he holds the stare, begging for Steve to get what he was referring to.

Steve seemed to understand what Tony was asking and met his eyes without faltering. "He wasn't."

Tony's heart soared. Steve wasn't using Tony as a replacement for his dad. He nodded and went back to his own mug as Bruce turned around to give a puzzled look. Tony swings a chair over for his science pal and pulls up the morning headlines for everyone to read. Steve had put him in a odd mood, so he leaves straight after he drains his mug and idles away a few hours in his workshop.


	3. The Tarnished Star

It wasn't long after that Steve came down, and knocked on the glass door rather than forcing entry. Had Tony been playing his music he wouldn't have heard Steve at all, but this time he was using the silence to enhance his thinking rather than block it all out.

He jerks his head to acknowledge the knock and lets Steve in, using J.A.R.V.I.S. as always. "Hey." He greets, throwing a hand sized ball towards Steve. The blonde catches it, tosses it in the air and throws it back lightly.

"Hey." He says with less vigour.

Tony takes a few moments to study him, to make out what was going on behind that simple expression of his. Nothing came. "So. Too early to ask about your nightmare?" Tony tries, obviously it'd be too soon.

"Yeah." Steve replies, and holds his hand out as Tony tosses the ball back.

The two just play catch for a while, to keep things simple and easy. But even then it was lacking in friendly energy. Steve finally gives up and hands the ball back to Tony, eyes looking again to how their palms were placed. "About this morning-"

"I get it, Cap. No harm, no foul."

"No it's not about that. I didn't mean to make you feel pressured into kissing me." Steve says quietly. "I came to apologise about it is all." He shrugs, but the actual words 'I', 'am', and 'sorry' never passed his lips.

Tony studies Steve for a moment more, his simple blonde friend starting to become a shade or two more interesting. Steve felt bad for something Tony had done as a thoughtless whim. The blonde must've thought Tony had excused himself to act out like a pre-teen girl down here in his technological sanctuary.

But that wasn't the case at all. Instead Tony had tortured himself a little bit over thinking about the good Captain with his father, but also about how envious he was. It had taken him a couple of hours to figure it out, but envy was evidently what Tony felt. Sure he could complete some of the hardest puzzles known to man in less time than that, but emotions and people were definitely something that had been a tricky problem for him for a long time. After all, Pepper never did forgive him for getting her strawberries.

"Tony?" Steve was looking at the genius with a small expectant stare. Had he zoned out whilst the soldier had been talking?

"What?" Tony asked, actually feeling a little bad this time that he'd undoubtedly come across as completely flippant towards his friend.

"I said, I'm sorry that I kissed you."

A faint pang triggered somewhere in Tony's heart. Steve regretted what he'd done, and although he was fairly amused by it all, Tony didn't really mind that he'd been able to kiss the Cap.

"Oh uh, yeah no." Tony stammers for once. He had to pick a path for this and stick to it. He was going to go for broke. "I don't think you're all that sorry though. I think I should make you... Apologise some more." He taunts softly, and steps forward feeling brave to the point of stupidity. He doubted Steve was going to go for this. But he wouldn't be Tony Stark if he gave up on the first try of seducing Steve.

"Tony.." Steve unfolds his arms from his chest, a questioning look complimenting his warning tones as he drawled out the billion dollar name. Steve was intimidated by this.

Good.

"What?" The billionaire grins, a row of sharp teeth on display as he gets to the point of almost bumping into Steve. He stops those all important few inches short of Steve's face, and draws himself up to challenge the blonde. "Don't you need something to apologise for before you can start grovelling?"

"Tony." Steve's patience snaps, and he puts a hand out to stop the gap from diminishing any further. "Don't toy with me." He says with a growl, Although Steve's eyes are looking at the dark hairs that made up Tony's sculpted beard. Tight pale lips part only slightly in a primal reaction to the want for Tony's lips above that groomed jaw.

Tony smirks as a response to the warning.

Steve pulls him closer. The toothy grin vanishes as Steve curls his fingers into the thick scrub of hair at the back of Tony's neck and claims him in a fairly basic, yet fierce kiss. His other hand rests on Tony's hip, bending him as he kissed him like he would a girl.

Tony was not going to put up with that. He scrambles his hand against Steve's on his hip, and pushes it towards his inner thigh. Steve jerks his hand back and leaves it suspended by his side, not daring to touch Tony's groin. That made the genius laugh into their kiss, and without fear he goes for Steve's package. Instantly Steve backs away, but his lips are stuck on Tony's. His free hand moves to where Tony had left his fingers waiting for Steve to buck his hips back in, to hold their hands firmly away their hips.

Finally Steve pulls away, and Tony finds himself panting hard, his breath taken from his lungs the second he wasn't concentrating. "Shit. Did you learn that from Howa-" But Steve's lips catch Tony off guard, muffling the name of the older Stark completely out of the conversation.

"No." Steve replies, remembering how that blonde secretary had kissed him as a treat from all the single girls of America. That was where he'd gotten that little trick from. "Now shut up." He grunts back, and presses gently towards Tony's hips, testing each and every move against Tony's body carefully.

For Steve it might have been exciting and arousing and full of overpowering thoughts and feelings. But for Tony it was so slow, too excruciatingly slow. He wanted more, and he wanted it fast and quick and powerful, a sensory overload that would block out all his calculating thoughts. He wondered whether Steve knew what he was getting into, or if the blonde was willing to accept that Tony would probably go out and fuck someone else right after this. Because he doubted from the way Steve was going that he would even last long enough to get out of his pants.

That was something Tony then wanted to aim for. For whatever reason the idea possessed him. The idea of making Captain America cum in his pants, then have to go upstairs to change, where everyone would see the stain as he made the journey. Tony felt himself get a pang of arousal, and he knew a certain part of him had just sprung to life. Shit. Now he _had _tomake Steve go off or this whole thing would be a waste of time and a quick jerking session in the bathroom.

But how does one go about tarnishing the flawless shine of the star spangled man?

Steve bites Tony's lip, and the billionaire gasps in response to the quick and sharp pain. Once again he'd wondered off into his own head. "Am I boring you?" Steve asks right away, seems the man was a quick study into Tony's habits. Most people he made out with just thought Tony was enjoying the moment, when really he was stuck in his head figuring out next years bank statements for Stark Enterprises.

It was obviously going to be now or never.

Tony jerks his hips forward, giving Steve some pressure. Unsurprisingly the blonde was half-cocked already, which made the brown haired genius grin as he took control of the situation. True Steve was trying his best to use his super-steroid serum strength to keep the control, but he was nothing more than human once Tony got a hand on the material of his jeans zipper.

"Shh." Tony coaxes quietly, pulling his lips away far enough to reach Steve's ear, and bites expertly at the soft skin below his earlobe. Steve's entire body shudders, and Tony knows that all the soft spots were going to be the key to work Steve over. There was no point in pushing, or pulling. Steve wouldn't go anywhere unless someone as strong as Thor was leading. So for the unsuited Stark it would have to be all about power play with the erogenous zones.

Fingers play with the buckle of Steve's belt, but mostly they concentrate on just giving enough pressure to make Steve keen and press. That was all Tony would need before he could get Steve to dry hump himself into orgasm. The thought alone was making Tony want to touch himself, but then of course he'd ruin his plan. He had to persevere.

"How many times have you done this before?" Tony asks, wanting to have more data to calculate with. Steve gasps as he squeezes the soft lump in his pants, and rolls his hips into the sensation of Tony's warm hand.

"Not many." He admits, and he squeezes Tony's hand as his other drifts down to rest his free hand on Tony's backside. With a small push, Tony's hips jerk further into the person he was supposed to be controlling. Their bodies were starting to melt together and writhe, and Tony rewards Steve's answer with a small playful nibble to his collarbone. This still wasn't quite fast enough for Tony to enjoy himself completely, but Steve's face was starting to get this wonderful quality to it that the coffee loving inventor hadn't seen before.

It was Steve's lust. Captured probably by J.A.R.V.I.S. Tony was guessing he'd be able to look at this face a few more times if he wanted to. It was enchanting in a way. Whenever those baby blues were shut, Steve's mouth would open, expectant of a kiss. But when he opened them and looked at Tony, his pupils dilated so wide that he took on an almost shark-like appearance.

Tony wondered if a bit of blood would start a feeding frenzy.

He kisses Steve lightly for a moment, and gradually gets rougher, more demanding, until just at that pinnacle of pleasure he bites down. Steve yelps audibly and sucks at his bottom lip, the skin broken enough to allow for blood. He looks at Tony with a mixture of confusion and definite arousal.

Tony thought he'd gone too far, and was about to apologise when he felt his spine connect with the ground, Steve pushing against him to kiss him back. It seemed Tony was right as he grunted a pained moan just as loudly as Steve had when bitten, his ambition of getting Steve off fully clothed forgotten as he enjoys the sudden change in sensation.

But as quickly as it came, it passed, and Tony pushes back against Steve's lips, trailing down to his neck, biting this time slowly, so that Steve could feel the intensity of the pressure change by the millimetre. Tony looked up as Steve winced, then darted his tongue to sooth over the dented skin. A low hiss greets Tony's ears as Steve gets the relief of the pleasure.

Tony wondered if hickeys were a thing back in the 30s and tries one out experimentally. His reward was a low moan from Steve, and his member pushed forcefully against Tony's leg. His primary mission came back to him, and he slips his palm in-between their bodies, stroking Steve to keep him going. It seemed he wouldn't have to try much longer, because Steve's grunts had turned into little whimpers.

He wasn't sure if the blonde was aware of Tony's plan, or if he even cared by this point, but Steve was jerking back against Tony's hand like it was the only source of pleasure on the planet. Tony pulls his head back as far as he can to observe Steve's face of concentration, which involved his arms shaking a little as he tried to stay propped up, his eyes shut tight, and repeatedly his mouth formed silently what looked like the word 'fuck'.

That was all Tony needed to see to reward Steve again with a little bit more encouragement. "Come on Cap." He goads. "It's been a while, feel free to shoot your load." He taunts, almost challenges, and Steve pushes down enough to hide his face from Tony's line of vision.

"Fuck." The blonde whines and with a grunt, another shudder, and a moment to kiss Tony's neck, he comes without time to pull his jeans down.

Steve's groin feels hot, and soon after Tony can feel the patch of Steve's release seep through. He pulls his hand away and wipes the residue on the side of Steve's leg, not wanting to stain his own clothes. Tony moves out with a wriggle from under the large bulk of the blonde, then studies the dopey look on Steve's face as they both sit upright.

"What am I supposed to do about this?" Steve asks, suddenly quite aware of what had just transpired. Tony grins like the mean spirited guy he is and shrugs his shoulders.

"Beats me. Maybe you should have thought about that." He says ever so smug of his most recent accomplishment. He almost wanted to make an award plaque and mount it on his wall. 'Made Captain America jizz in his pants, and get ashamed about it – July.'.

Steve huffs a breath, eyes rolling up to the ceiling as he leans back on his palms. "You didn't give me a chance to do anything to you." He protests.

Tony laughs, Steve obviously didn't know how hot it was to see him sitting there covered in his own making. "Then do something." He says with that ever aloof tone. Steve makes a face of discontent.

"I was trying to." He utters, head coming back down with apparent shame. Tony shakes his head and undoes his zipper.

"Try harder." He says, mouth holding a grin as he beckons Steve over with a curling finger. He watches Steve's throat bob as he swallows. Nervous. Brown eyes slant as the smile widens, making Tony resemble the image of the Cheshire Cat. Something about corrupting Steve Rogers was just as thrilling as getting a threesome from the top models employed by the Playboy mansion.

A quick shower an hour later told Tony a few things.

One: Don't fuck around with a 220 pound super-solider who can lift you up with one arm and still jerk you off with the other.

Two: The bruises weren't going to fade any time soon.

Three: Steve could get hard minutes after his first release. This was an unfair advantage over Tony's experience.

At least Steve wouldn't be the only one who had to wash his clothes free of ejaculation.


	4. The Aftermath

To be sure the loophole in his coding had worked, Tony was once again up at 2am with eyes glued to his screen.

Steve was in bed, curled up on his side again. For a moment Tony felt overwhelmingly urged to go and join him, or wake him before the bad part of his dream did. But he just stayed watching, his face a picture of concentration.

Again, Steve's hand jerked out to grab his invisible 'whatever', and Tony's eyes flick to the coding. Sure enough, there was no alert. J.A.R.V.I.S was doing just fine too, no sudden ghost fragments or other bits of code falling apart. Tony had always gotten pissed off when he was first making his AI system because whenever he fixed one thing, about a hundred glitches came out of nowhere to tamper with his good work. But now it seemed after years of constantly perfecting his butler, that the system well and truly worked without flaw.

Tony's eyes flick back up to the video relay of Steve, to find that instead of the soldier rolling over and going back to sleep, he was now up and moving. Tony knew this should have been the end of it, and he should have turned off the monitors and gone to bed. But when Steve finally clambered back into his bed, the blonde stared up at his ceiling: eyes boring right into the camera.

Maybe he knew Tony was staring back.

It was unnerving, but Tony did understand why his little workshop romp may not have been the best move with Steve. It probably didn't help when Steve saw that leggy D-cup walking out of Tony's room with her hair all messed up and lipstick smeared. Sure it was a crappy thing to do, to parade a woman around in front of Steve's face only an hour after they'd jerked each other off. But Tony wanted him to know that he was not interested in a relationship. He didn't even know what that woman's name was, something with an F maybe?

Tony's thoughts stopped as he realised he'd walked the corridor and was about to knock on Steve's door. He takes a breath and steps back. Why would he come here? He no longer trusted his feet on autopilot. He pads back to the living room, wondering if he was about to make an apology to the blonde. But that would be ridiculous. Steve had the strength of ten men, and the rest. If that golden boy didn't want Tony all over him, he would've definitely stopped him one way or the other.

Tony nods a little as he makes himself a coffee. He wasn't going to sleep any time soon, so why not just crash in a few hours and grab a power nap?

"You're muttering to yourself." Bruce's voice pops up calmly. Tony starts and spins, for a guy who held the power to level buildings Bruce was a ninja.

"I almost came out of my skin. Although I guess you know how that feels." Tony jokes back, covering his chest subconsciously. It was like a tick, every now and then Tony would find his hand just at the edge of the arc, as if daring himself to touch the thing that was keeping him alive. Then he'd pull back and criticize that he didn't have to remind himself it was there, because it wasn't going anywhere now people close to him now weren't trying to yank it out. But that didn't stop him worrying. People have woken up missing their gold fillings, and the arc was worth more than a million of those.

"You're not usually so, skittish." Bruce remarks, helping himself to water. The two scientists stand around for a long minute without saying a word. Then when Tony's coffee was finally poured he takes a seat and looks around, trying to discern if there were any more ninjas. He looks to Bruce's warm, understanding eyes.

"I may have fucked up." Tony says slowly.

Bruce regards him and takes a seat. "It's rare for you to say something like that." He comments quietly. Tony merely nods, a heavy sigh in his tone.

"Because normally I can fix my issue if I fuck up something inanimate." He takes a sip of his drink, coffee really was his one true pal.

"Did you get into another fight with Steve?" He asks kindly, for once holding eye contact with Tony for longer than a few seconds. It seemed that since his arrival at the tower, and the many people who rallied to his side, Bruce had become a lot easier with people. That didn't stop him from feeling a little alienated when things started to get to the point of rough housing though. He may be one hell of a trooper when it came to keeping a lid on the Hulk, but when it came to everyone piling on top of Steve or Clint in a noisy battle for the remote, he'd look on from the sidelines with a little wistful glint in his eyes.

"I wish." Tony says after a long time to think about Bruce's words. Lately his mind had started going off on its own, and Tony wasn't really concentrating. He blamed it on being tired and tried to focus his attention on the other brunette. "I uh.. I may have done some _things_ to the Cap."

"Tony." Bruce groans, knowing quite well what Tony 'may have' done. "You can't do things like that to him!"

"What? He didn't exactly say no."

Bruce goes back to regarding the other silently. "So Steve's..."

"Seems that way."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Tony gives a little grin, and Bruce can't hide the smile that's creeping over his own expression.

"So." Bruce adds, a little coyly. "Is everything?" He makes a little motion with his hands, expanding them.

"Oh yeah." Tony nods instantly, the serum had certainly done it's job on the good Captain. Bruce laughs warmly. He doesn't seem to be taking it in as a serious matter at all. Tony waits for his easy laughter to fade out, and then thumbs over the rim of his coffee mug. "But really, I don't think I should have done it. Should I, ugh, I don't know. Should I apologise or buy him dinner or what?" Tony laughs a little again, the two of them finding this to be so mind boggling that they have no other response.

"Well don't get him flowers, whatever you do. He put out on the first date." Bruce can't help joining in. He really did find this to be bizarre, but if Steve had to go for anyone on the planet, of course he'd go for the most complex minded billionaire who also doubled as a superhero. "Maybe, you two should talk." He shrugs, a little fearful of Tony scoffing at the idea.

"Like kids?" Tony does indeed scoff at the idea, but then he remembered Steve's words about the psychiatrist, and he feels a little more accepting about perhaps just talking to the blonde. "Worth a shot." He says after another pause. Bruce seems to relax, glad he was of use.

For the second time that night, Tony stood outside Steve's door. He didn't want to admit that he thought this was going to be a long shot, but he taps gently on the panel that separated him from that huge bulk of a man in bed.

After a couple of seconds, the door opens, and Steve looks both shocked, confused, and somewhat frightened. "Mr. Stark." He says quietly, keeping the gap between them. God it pissed Tony off to be called 'Mr. Stark' by someone who wasn't on his payroll. "It's very late." Steve adds, trying to bite back the hopeful little spark that Tony had no doubt lit.

"Yeah I'm gonna' come in now." Tony says without really looking at the soldier. He pushes past and sits himself on the edge of Steve's bed. Steve shuts the door, and comes to sit next to Tony, the both of them looking out at the far window. Tony takes a couple of breaths to organise his thoughts. "We shouldn't have done what we did today," Steve looked as though he was about to interrupt, but Tony holds his hand up. "Because we are friends, and co-workers." He stops himself from adding 'and because you're stupid to get involved with me'.

Steve takes a minute to process, perhaps he had been expecting a fight from the brunette and this was far from a pent up yelling match. "Okay." He says simply, eyes reflecting the dull light of his bedside lamp. Tony had to swallow after realising his mouth had run a little dry. Steve was absolutely stunning. A masterpiece of work. Tony looks away and focuses intently on the window. He did not want to get into the same thought process as his father. "But if you knew that, why did you start this all off in the first place?" He asks, although he already knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

That was all it took for Tony to take the advantage, and squash any feelings that may have been squirming free. "Because I thought you'd put up a fight. Turns out you're no more entertaining than a slut at prom." He stands, and he can feel Steve's anger bristling against the back of his neck. One more bridge burned. Tony walks for the door, hearing Steve shift from the bed.

Steve was stood as well, but doesn't follow Tony out of the door. Instead he's packed a couple of things into his well worn gym bag, and within minutes Tony could feel the front door of the lobby slam all the way from his own bedroom. He'd fucked up something royal. "J.A.R.V.I.S, fix that will you?" Tony's voice was a little hoarse as he slipped into his bed.

"Certainly Sir." The dry spoken butler replied, but Tony knew that it was only the door J.A.R.V.I.S could fix. His AI couldn't make up for all the shit he'd just caused Steve. Tony felt empty, and horribly alone even with the other avengers still in his home. The billionaire couldn't actually bring himself to imagine the tower without Steve.

He rolls over, cocooning himself in his God-knows-how-many thread count sheets. He felt exhausted. As he drifted off, he curls his arms over themselves, his hands rolled tightly into each palm. After everything that had happened, he wanted to go back in time and hold Steve's hand.


	5. The Outside View

Steve had put up with a lot. He'd had to fight for mostly everything he ever wanted, and as consequence also been beaten down an awful lot. But he never thought Howard would raise someone like Tony. Not that Steve thought of the billionaire as 'Howard's son'.

Steve was wondering with every step on the way to the gym just what he'd done to the brunette to deserve such a battering from him. Of course that was merely on the periphery of Steve's unrelenting anger at the cruelty of the younger Stark. Served him right for not kicking Tony out the minute he woke up with that damn playboy in his bed. But now it was more than that, because Tony was under his skin, in his blood, and crawling through his head like a carnivorous tick.

By the time he got to the gym his anger had only increased, so much so he bumped right into Natasha. He drops his bag instantly and hovers opposite her with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry!" He says quickly, and Natasha gives him a stare cold enough to freeze him again.

"Didn't you hear me say watch out?" She asked, voice holding a lot of annoyance.

Steve looks at her with his only puppy dog expression and sighs. "No, I am really sorry." He says again, and Natasha just folds her arms and drops her hip.

"You must've been really concentrating not to have seen me." She steps back out of Steve's way and he picks up his bag again. "Something bothering you?" She asks, not that she usually cared. However, she did feel pretty bad for Steve, and had been reporting to Fury that although he was coming on in leaps and bounds, sometimes he seemed to stop as though questioning if he should really be here. Who could blame him? Poor bastard stuck in the ice like that. She'd probably have fallen straight back into a shock coma if the same had happened to her.

Steve falls silent, remembering what Tony said about her being used to manipulate him. But forget about Tony, he was the problem in all this. Natasha had been nothing but nice to him. "Stark." He mutters with the same anger that had been flaring up in him all evening.

Natasha doesn't say anything but follows Steve until he gets to the punching bags. She rolls her eyes and slips into the boxing ring. "You won't lose your pent up energy practising on those beat up old things." She gives him a taunting smile.

"I don't want to hurt you." Steve replies with equal cockiness, but he knew she was just as strong as anyone who'd be able to give him a run for his money. She gives him a shake of her head, disappointed. He looks to the bags, the taped up splits threatening to give way under one super-soldier punch. "Alright, but I warned you." He leaves the beaten bags alone and vaults into the ring.

"If you're that good you'll be able to fight me and talk about what it is Stark did this time." She stands loose and without a boxing stance. Steve readies himself and nods for her to make the first move.

"Something personal." Steve starts, timing his moves as Natasha sprints towards him. That girl was damn fast, and even his calculations weren't quite right as he struck out for her, watching her side step his fist to land a pretty painful fist of her own to his side. He shifts back, pulling a punch that she blocks expertly. "Feels like he ripped out my organs." Both of them continue to spar, landing small hits with nothing too fatal as they weren't trying to 'win'. "I don't know what to do."

"Maybe you should be fighting _him_ tonight." She retaliates between kicks, impressed Steve could block both her knees. Steve laughs through a ragged breath.

"I don't want to fight with him any more. I'm through." He groans as she hits him by the kidney area, and pulls his hand up for a time out.

"You're still all over the place." She comments, sweeping sweat drenched hair out of her face. Because Steve had landed a few fairly bruising hits of his own, and it was just as much effort to take a hit form him as it was to evade it. She backs off into the corner grateful for Steve's hand. "But Stark is easy enough to butter up." She adds, doing what she can to make Steve feel a little more at ease. "Don't rise to his bait."

"I..." Steve stops and thinks for a moment. "I suppose I did, didn't I?" He sighs, and although Natasha didn't really know what was going on between them, she could see that it was to do with Steve's guilt, and probably not something Tony had actually done. "So.. I don't suppose you know how to win Tony over?" Steve looks at her for a moment, willing her to understand what he wanted to ask about.

"Win him over?" She asks with a frown.

Steve stays quiet. He can't say it with her looking at him like that. He thought about the way Tony threw his head back when Steve touched him rough and quick, and it makes his skin burn from the back of his neck all the way up to his ears. "If I wanted to.. To-" He felt himself wanting to say fondue, just to make it all a little bit easier on his own mind.

Natasha's eyes went wider than usual, and she uttered something in Russian before she addressed him again. "Win him over." She says calmly.

"Yeah." Steve crossed his arms over his chest, feeling like a bit of an idiot.

"No point in trying to buy him anything." She starts reeling off a list of things that should work on a normal person, but not Tony. Steve nods, learning more from Natasha in five minutes about courting than he'd ever known in his own experiences. "Maybe fighting him would be best." She finally concludes.

"Maybe so." Steve sighs in defeat, and exits the ring. He holds the ropes apart for Natasha, and she thanks him as she climbs out. "Has he ever mentioned hating me?" He asks out of nowhere, and Natasha feels her heart go out to the blonde.

"He doesn't hate you." She says kindly, even going so far as to put a hand to Steve's arm. "Not if you two have been fooling around like that." She adds with a coy little grin. Steve looks like he wants to be ashamed, but Natasha wasn't judging him. "Love does crazier things to people than hate Steve." She adds quietly, and then leaves Steve as her phone alerts her to a new mission.

Steve waves goodbye to her as she goes, and in a far better mood than when he left, he resigned himself to going back to the tower rather than his old apartment.

It was dark when Steve came in, and found some of his guilt returning as he was greeted by Tony's bots making repairs to the door he'd shattered. "Sorry guys." He puts his bag down in the street and helps out by moving a few heavy bits of metal to the lobby, making their mechanical lives a little easier.

"Captain Rogers, if you would retire for the evening? Our protocol is to have this fixed by morning, we were not told you would assist us." J.A.R.V.I.S interrupts as Steve distracts the robot Tony called Dummy.

"Oh, sorry J.A.R.V.I.S." Steve didn't know why he had the urge to always look for the entity that was just a rather very intelligent system, but his head would always snap up to search for a camera or a microphone at the least.

Steve vaults the stairs two at a time, landing quietly each time to his own satisfaction. But as he walks past Tony's room he feels eyes on him, and with a slight turn of his head he finds the door open. It was rare that any of the doors were open on their electronic locks, yet Tony's room was visible without the door in its frame. Steve questioned how trusting Tony was being by sleeping with the door open. Open doors didn't sit right with the images of Tony Stark in Steve's mind.

"You just gonna hover there all night?" Tony's voice distracted the blonde, and he looked into the darkness of Tony's room to find the ever revealing glow of the arc reactor. Sure enough, blanketed in his sheets Tony lay in his bed, blue glow reflecting dark eyes that were looking back out at Steve framed in the door.

"Yeah I am." Steve replies with some resilience to Tony's words. "I'm waiting for my apology, and I'll stand here all night if I have too." He challenges, eyes glaring as Tony rolled over.

"You'll be waiting a lifetime." Tony growls back, clearly thinking he hadn't done anything wrong.

"You're so full of it." Steve says, but he's made sure to creep right up to Tony's ear first. The brunette visibly stiffens, and Steve can't help the look of satisfaction he's earned by making Tony tense.

"Get out of my room."

"You'd have locked the door if you really wanted to be alone."

Steve slips up on the bed, kicking off his shoes as he goes. Tony turns over just in time to watch Steve peel off his work shirt. He was pretty sure his awed gasp was loud enough to wake the tower. But Steve didn't seem to have heard it.

"Fair point." Tony shifts over, extending his hand. "Just in case." He mutters, and makes a point of not looking at Steve's face. That however left him with the choice of abs, biceps, chest, or nipple to stare at instead. Tony opted for the abs.

Steve chuckles out loud, finding Tony's little game to be almost too obvious now that Natasha had put his mind at ease. He folds himself against Tony's body again, his fingers pushing between Tony's. There was no comeback comment, no sudden jerking movements away from Steve's body. It seemed that the two of them could get along just fine if they understood the boundaries.

So Steve made a mental list as he started to calm with the help of Tony's warmth. He'd only do this if the two of them really wanted to have some sort of connection. He'd leave Tony alone unless they were in public. At least that way his good social sense would prevent him from giving in to Tony's flirty nature. He'd most certainly not fall in love with Tony. That sort of torture Steve couldn't willingly inflict on himself.

"Sorry I called you a slut." Tony says quietly, his eyes still not meeting Steve's.

"That's the best it's going to get isn't it?" Steve asks, a smile twitching at his lips as Tony nods.


	6. The Fresh Start

"Like this?"

"No, more like..." Tony shifted his body, and then his world went hazy. "Oh!" Tony groaned as Steve pushed further in, and hit right against where it counted. God, he'd not done this since college and it always took getting used to. But Steve was something else.

Tony laughed at his own reaction, jerked himself a couple of times to ease himself into it. He didn't know why he'd agreed to having sex with Rogers, but he came to the conclusion it was because he'd been so bowled over by the fact the blonde had asked.

Steve worked his hands over Tony's back, slipped his arm around his chest to press his back against the man he was having sex with. Steve felt so warm, and huge in just about every way Tony could imagine. He was used to the dominant types, but not like this. The feel of that muscle flexing in order to snap his hips into Tony made the billionaire yell out in a sound that could've easily been pain if not for the insane way he twisted and writhed on Steve for more.

He could make Steve come out with some of the sexiest sounds he'd ever heard. If he didn't know the man was America's golden boy, he'd have thought he was fucking a top shelf porn star. Steve jerked a couple more times, but it was clear from the way his domineering grunts turned into those pathetic little whimpers that he was close. Again.

How many times had it been? Easily three. God. Steve was a trooper.

"Tony!" He whimpered, the name sounded so right in his mouth, but Tony didn't respond to it, he just kept moving his hips in time to Steve's sporadic and shaking thrusts. Another slight moan, and then it was another used condom, another climax.

"Shit. Not again." Steve groans once he's finally got his head back into his brain. Tony was still hard, still painfully in need of release. He wanted to laugh again, but Steve didn't see his four in row fuck as a good thing. He must've felt impotent or bad in bed. Tony just shakes his head, opting for once in his life to hold his tongue.

"Stop worrying about it Steve. The more you do the harder it'll get for you to enjoy yourself." Tony leans back a little, fists his sex to get off. The thing that might have annoyed Steve the most is that Tony was pretty close. He grabs a thick wad of tissues and explodes into them, his eyes shut tight, and head tilted up to the ceiling. He didn't care if Steve watched, or that he sort of got off on the idea of those damn beautiful eyes and slight parted mouth devouring the image of him fucking his hand.

"I don't think we should do this again." Steve voice was soft, trying to let Tony down easily. The brunette hears himself laughing again. Steve was fucking adorable. He leans back into his arms, still waiting for the comedown of his orgasm.

"What? You telling me I just became your own night stand?" He gives Steve what he hopes is his unhurt 'I understand' face. But he wasn't sure how he felt about being used by Steve of all people. Not that he felt that a desperate clingy super-solider would be any better. But a distant, 'thanks for the fuck now leave me alone' Steve? Did that hurt more or less? "Please don't tell me we can still be friends." He chuckles a little coldly, but Steve laughs too.

"That goes without saying. I didn't trust anyone else enough to come forward about this you know." Steve's voice really was quite soothing when he wasn't yelling about some frivolous bullshit. "Just, don't get into the habit of thinking I can drop everything to do... This." He says with some hesitation.

"Jesus Rogers. We just fucked until you ran out of steam and you still can't say we had sex? You really are the strangest man." Broad arms fold over Tony's shoulders, and he just smirks as Steve cuddles him. "You don't want this to be a thing but we're after-sex snuggling?"

"Shut up and enjoy it Tony." Steve mumbled against his neck, and Tony did enjoy it. He didn't like the idea of doing this sort of thing, normally he never bothered to even take his shirt off so his partners wouldn't ask about his damn arc. But Steve never questioned it once. Because this is what they were, two broken men finding comfort in each other.

Steve was right not to make this a thing. He knew the risks, understood that it could ruin missions, destroy their friendship entirely. Tony didn't like to settle, and it would be unhealthy and unfair for Steve try and make him.

"What are you gonna do?" Tony finally asks, he couldn't stop thinking that Steve might come in one day and start breaking down like a hysterical girlfriend. That would get ugly far too quick.

"Nothing that endangers your name Tony." Steve replies, a heavy sigh heating Tony's neck. The billionaire rolls his eyes and finds his hands stroking into that tuft of blonde hair near his fringe.

"Not what I meant, but thanks." He stretches out without getting up, finding this 'pillow talk' nonsense to be sort of sweet when it involved the Captain.

"I'm going to deal with this as it happens, Stark." There was an air of a final promise in Steve's words. Tony nodded and spent the next ten minutes nose to nose with Steve, drinking in all the sensations for all it was worth until it was time to close the book on this little adventure and take up a new chapter.

It was months since that day. Tony had been his usual self and Steve had never changed in his professionalism. Steve came out to the team a few days after their frantic meeting, to be welcomed with warmth and Natasha getting a little giddy about it. Tony never understood the female obsession with gay men, but he figured it can't be bad to have a world class spy/assassin happy for you. Steve never once mentioned Tony had been his partner, nor that Tony had supported him so fiercely. Only that he owed the team a lot, and Steve valued them.

But sure as it was, a month later Steve came through the Avengers tower one evening, with a man not much smaller than the blonde. Tony had wondered, but not asked. It turned out this man was going to stay for dinner, and overnight. As much as Tony wanted to protest, he knew it would be alright so long as Steve didn't give this guy any Avengers secrets, and he knew the soldier too well to be stupid enough to do that.

Tony had decided this 'boyfriend' of Steve's was okay. He was a fire-fighter, and had shamelessly asked Steve for his number. Then it followed as most healthy relationships did. They had coffee, talked, found common interests that weren't about how alone or scared their were of their nightmares. They both enjoyed old music, both loved actions movies. Normally it would make Tony sick to his stomach to hear about all this fluffy crap, but the look in Steve's eyes was undeniable. The man was smitten with his fire-fighter. Tony didn't feel jealous either, although there were questioning looks thrown at him by Steve. Tony just nodded back 'everything's fine'. Steve's boyfriend was a good thing, Steve's bravery and love was all good, and Tony was glad that he'd moved on.

The 2am pings had stopped in the last couple of weeks too. Tony had only bothered to check once or twice, but now it seemed that even without the loophole coding, Steve was able to sleep. This was the last night he was going to spy on Rogers. Tony brought up the video feed, and found that Steve's fire-fighter boyfriend was leading him to the bed. Tony thought for one horrific moment he was about to watch them have sex, his hand hovering over the escape key just in case. But instead the two were happily folded in each other's arms as they settled down for the night, the occasional kiss here and there between them.

Tony shut off the feed and relaxed into his seat. He had work to do, but it could wait until morning. He got up and found himself shuffling into his own bed, found his eyes shut without a worried thought pestering him. He was happy, because his team was happy.


End file.
